Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing removing barrel from action ???

I want to remove the barrel from the action of a Rem Mod 7. Any suggestions on how to do this? Thanks. Al

You will need an action wrench and a barrel vise. Both available from Brownells.

Check utube if you want some visual references... Tons of gunsmithing stuff on there. If you have never seen it done can be very helpful...

W

Don't even try it with your typical garage tools.

Either get the right tools, or if a one time thing, pay a 'smith $20-30 or so, and just have them do it. Unless you plan on doing more than a few, it's far cheaper than buying the tools, and will be done right (even with the tools, you stand a chance of scratching or even tweaking metal if you're still learning).

Sometimes it's easier, and money well spent, to hand it over, write the check, and get your stuff done right, and quickly.

If you want to save the barrel for future use or to re-sell it, I'd strongly recommend paying a 'smith to do it.

Remington often uses thread-lock "goo", such that you have to heat the action to break it and that is a job best left to somebody who knows what they are doing. Add the fact that the Remington 7 barrels are a very light contour makes successful, IOW "not damaged", removal a little tougher, as it is easy to bend a light contour barrel when you've got the barrel in a vise and a guy with a BFW (Big [bleep] Wrench) cranking on the action.

The guy who is going to install your new barrel might be the best person to remove the current barrel.

Jeff

I make my own barrel vises and action wrenches.

The Rem700 type receiver seems to have a unique problem with the threads, galling.

Be careful when you screw in the new barrel.

The threads will gall every time if you squeeze the action too hard. We just snug the wrench on the action and use a bolt through the action hole. My wrench supports the lug so we get a lot of push without squeezing. We found this out when we first started. We had a Remington that once broke loose was still hard to turn. Made me think of working on inverted motorcycle forks. If you don't loosen the triple clamp you can't get the lid off the fork tube. We loosened up the action wrench and it spun easy. Now they all give it up with a couple taps with a 2 pound and they free wheel off Loctite and all. The tightest barrels out there are Vangards. An 8 pound hammer helps to get those moving. Sako, Winchesters, Rugers and Mark 5's usually just bop off with your hand. I'm thinking they go so easy is having a large flat reduces the amount of squeeze we have to use to get a firm grip.

Thanks very much for the info. Sounds like something I had best leave for the gun smith.